Chapter 340: Qin Feng Enters Marquis Rank! Great Battle Slashes Geniuses! Instantly Killing Marquis Rank

Chapter 340: Qin Feng Ascends to Marquis! A Great Battle to Slay the Prodigy! Instant Kill of a Peak Marquis!

The Master of Weaponry and the Golden Emperor stood in confrontation, their auras evenly matched, though the Golden Emperor held a slight edge. Yet, the Master of Weaponry felt no fear, for the number of Emperor-ranked powerhouses who owed him a debt of gratitude was beyond counting.

The Master of Weaponry continued: "Qin Feng holds my junior brother’s token and has come to retrieve his legacy. By all reason and sentiment, he is a guest of my Weaponry Sect. Since its founding, my sect has held but one rule: within my borders, no one may touch my guests."

His voice paused, his calm gaze slowly lifting to meet the Golden Emperor’s eyes: "Once Qin Feng leaves the territory of the Weaponry Sect, his life or death is no concern of mine. But as long as he remains within these borders, should any person or any faction dare to step even an inch further..."

The Master of Weaponry’s voice turned chillingly cold, a terrifying murderous intent, born from the depths of his soul, flashing and vanishing in an instant.

"They shall be executed without exception."

These four words, devoid of emotion, carried more weight than any roar.

The Golden Emperor’s aura faltered, and the eighty thousand Marquises behind him felt a chill seep into their very spirits. They did not doubt for a moment that this seemingly peaceful old man would strike with the force of a thunderbolt should he choose to act.

"Good! A fine 'executed without exception'!"

The Golden Emperor laughed in his fury. "Master of Weaponry, do you truly believe that you alone can withstand the wrath of this Emperor and these eighty thousand Marquises? Your sect’s grand formation may be exquisite, but in the face of absolute power, it is merely a prettier turtle shell!"

Just then, behind the Golden Emperor, a peak Marquis from the Giant Troll race, seeing the stalemate, began to scheme. He was one of the powerhouses who had accepted the highest-level hunting mission from the Will of the Universe; the benefits of slaying Qin Feng here would be immeasurable. Seeing the Golden Emperor caught in a dilemma, he sought to fan the flames and bind everyone to his cause.

"Fellow Daoists!"

The Giant Troll Marquis’s voice was highly inflammatory. "We, sixty-four thousand Marquises, have all come on orders from the Will of the Universe! Now that our target is within the formation, does this mere Master of Weaponry think he can defy the supreme will of the cosmos? If he dares to block us, he is an enemy to all sixty-four thousand of us! Let us strike together, shatter this formation, slay Qin Feng, and seize the 'Complete Map of the Seven Heavens Abyss Temple'! When that time comes, with divine arts before us, all may strive for their own fortune!"

His words were seductive, instantly igniting the greed in the hearts of many Marquis-ranked powerhouses. The mission from the Will of the Universe was an open conspiracy, and the rewards were a tangible temptation.

In an instant, the auras of the eighty thousand Marquises began to churn, and waves of tyrannical law-force gathered, threatening to break the formation in the next heartbeat.

However, the Master of Weaponry merely cast a faint glance at the instigating Giant Troll Marquis.

"Noisy."

He uttered the word softly.

Before the sound had faded, the phantom of a colossal warhammer appeared abruptly above the Giant Troll Marquis’s head.

The hammer’s design was archaic to the extreme, as if forged from the very first piece of divine iron at the dawn of the universe. Upon its head were inscribed the trajectories of billions of stars, radiating a terrifying Dao aura that suppressed the ages and pulverized all things.

The appearance of this hammer caused no spatial fluctuations; it manifested from thin air, ignoring distance, defense, and even the laws of reality.

The look of triumph on the Giant Troll Marquis’s face had not yet faded before it was replaced by an indescribable horror. He tried to flee, only to find his soul, his Dao seal, and every particle composing his existence locked tight by an invisible force.

"No..."

He only had time to utter a single syllable of despair.

The phantom hammer descended gently.

There was no sound, no flash of light.

That peak Marquis, who had dominated regions of the universe and survived countless life-and-death battles, was, under the gaze of all, hammered into the most primitive void—from his soul’s origin to his Dao seal, and finally his physical body.

Every trace of his existence was utterly erased, as if the creature had never been born into the universe at all.

One strike, an instant kill of a peak Marquis!

The scene fell into dead silence.

The eighty thousand Marquises, who had been restless moments ago, now felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave. The fire of greed in their hearts was extinguished by that single blow, leaving only a bone-chilling cold. They finally understood that the Weaponry Master’s "executed without exception" was no empty threat.

The Golden Emperor’s eyes grew grave as never before. He could kill that Marquis, but he could never do it with such effortless ease, leaving the opponent unable to mount even a shred of resistance.

The Master of Weaponry’s attack acted directly upon the foundation of "existence"—what a terrifying method!

Kill the Master of Weaponry?

The thought crossed the Golden Emperor’s mind, but he immediately dismissed it. He did not fear the Master of Weaponry himself; even with the man’s bizarre methods, he was confident he could suppress and kill him at a certain cost.

But he feared the Master of Weaponry’s web of connections that spanned the universe. This master was obsessed with forging and never participated in disputes, but precisely because of this, his favors were spread across ten thousand races. Countless ancient beings of Emperor or even Saint rank had begged him to forge their life-bound treasures.

To kill him was to offend dozens, perhaps hundreds, of equally terrifying existences. To kill a Qin Feng who had yet to mature, only to spend the rest of his endless life guarding against lethal strikes from the shadows—no matter how one calculated it, the trade was a total loss.

The Golden Emperor was caught in a dilemma. To advance meant facing an unfathomable Master of Weaponry and the invisible, terrifying web behind him; to retreat meant abandoning the best chance to kill Qin Feng, allowing this grave threat to continue growing until, one day, it might be his own end.

In this oppressive atmosphere where even the cosmic void seemed to congeal, a heroic and resonant laugh rang out without warning, like a thunderclap piercing through endless time and space, instantly tearing the silence asunder.

"Hahahaha—"

"A dignified Golden Emperor, a sovereign of the Starry Beast race, can you only rely on your age to bully a junior of my Human race who has yet to even ascend to Marquis? If this were to get out, I fear the face of your Golden-Armored Beast race would be utterly lost!"

Before the laughter had faded, the space ahead was torn apart by a brutal force, as if it were fragile cloth, and a deep spatial rift appeared from nothingness.

Following this, a majestic figure clad in ice-blue armor, radiating a terrifying cold capable of freezing the laws of reality, stepped out with a long stride.

He was tall and broad, his features resolute, his eyes seemingly harboring ten thousand years of black ice. Merely by standing there, the temperature of the surrounding cosmic vacuum plummeted, and even light began to distort due to the extreme frigidity.

"A Human Emperor!"

The Golden Emperor’s pupils contracted sharply, his voice filled with wariness. "Heavenly Cold Emperor! With the opportunity of the Eternal Mountain before us, you would abandon such a massive benefit for a mere Qin Feng?"

The newcomer was none other than the renowned Human Emperor, the Heavenly Cold Emperor.

The Heavenly Cold Emperor hovered in the void, facing the Golden Emperor and his army of eighty thousand without a hint of fear. Instead, he sneered: "Hahahaha, Golden Emperor, your question is laughable. You can abandon the Eternal Mountain to hunt down a prodigy of my race, why can I not come to protect one? Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you—have you lived so long without understanding such a simple truth?"

His gaze swept over the Golden Emperor, filled with unconcealed killing intent: "And who told you I only came to protect Qin Feng?"

The Heavenly Cold Emperor’s voice rose sharply, like a billion ice needles shattering at once: "I tell you, it is not just me! Four other Human Emperors are on their way! We have come not only to protect Qin Feng but to use this opportunity to keep you here forever!"

"Slaying you is more important than any opportunity the Eternal Mountain could offer!"

The moment the words fell, the Heavenly Cold Emperor moved!

Without further ado, his figure flickered, instantly crossing an astronomical distance to appear directly before the Golden Emperor.

The ultimate power of the Ice Law erupted from his body. With a single punch, the entire universe seemed to be dragged into an eternal glacial epoch. Countless ice-crystal divine chains, composed of pure law, manifested from the void, weaving into a net of heaven and earth that descended upon the Golden Emperor.

"Arrogant!"

The Golden Emperor roared, not expecting a Human Emperor to be so fierce, striking without a word.

His massive body erupted with billions of golden rays, each one a strand of indestructible Geng-Metal Law, clashing violently with the Heavenly Cold Emperor’s ice chains.

Boom—

An Emperor-level battle erupted instantly, a terrifying energy storm sweeping across the entire star sector.

The collision of laws and the clash of Daos caused countless surrounding stars to instantly dim and turn to dust. With countless streams of light and myriad visions, the mere aftermath of the battle was enough to shatter the souls of any Marquis-level powerhouse.

The heart of the Golden Emperor sank to the very depths of the abyss.

The Heavenly Cold Emperor’s strength was a match for his own; one-on-one, he felt no fear.

But the mention of four other Human Emperors converging upon him hung like a Damoclean sword above his head.

He knew that those madmen of the human race were capable of anything they claimed.

To protect a mere Qin Feng, the humans were willing to deploy five Emperors, forsaking the opportunities of the Eternal Mountain just to hunt him down? What measure of importance was this?

The Golden Emperor dared not gamble.

Once surrounded by five Human Emperors, even he would have no hope of survival.

"Heavenly Cold, you are ruthless!"

He let out a roar of frustration, his massive frame shuddering violently to force the Heavenly Cold Emperor back, and in that instant, he spat out an ancient golden bell.

Divine light rippled across the artifact; it was clearly a treasure of immense power, forged by an Emperor.

"Clang—"

As the bell tolled, an invisible force tore through the layers of space, carving out a stable corridor.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the Golden Emperor transformed into a streak of light and plunged into the rift, fleeing the battlefield in disgrace.

"I shall remember this day! When I return from the Eternal Mountain, I will repay this a hundredfold!"

His venomous voice echoed through the cosmos, though his figure had already vanished.

He had chosen to enter the Eternal Mountain, for he understood that with the full protection of the Human Emperors, it was impossible to kill Qin Feng today.

With the Golden Emperor’s flight, the eighty thousand allied marquises were left leaderless, trembling in the face of the Heavenly Cold Emperor’s chilling aura, not daring to move a muscle.

The Heavenly Cold Emperor merely cast a cold glance at them, choosing not to strike.

Inside the sect hall, Qin Feng watched everything through the array’s light screen, his heart surging like a stormy sea.

The human race... they were truly willing to go to such lengths for him.

To abandon the Eternal Mountain, to mobilize five Emperors, all to secure a peaceful environment for his cultivation. This regard, this debt, was as heavy as the star-strewn sea.

Qin Feng felt a warmth called "belonging," and a heavy burden of responsibility.

He understood that the Heavenly Cold Emperor was right.

Tasks issued by the Will of the Universe could not be directly interfered with, even by Emperors, lest they suffer the backlash of the Supreme Rules—a fate that could cause even the mightiest to perish on the spot.

Thus, with the Golden Emperor driven away, the remaining eighty thousand marquises were a "tribulation" he had to face alone.

This was his path, his journey; no one could walk it for him.

The Heavenly Cold Emperor’s figure slowly faded, though he did not truly depart. He remained hidden in the shadows, monitoring for a potential return of the Golden Emperor and deterring other factions, ensuring no peer would disturb Qin Feng before all Emperors entered the Eternal Mountain.

Outside the Artifact Sect, the Weapon-Refining King stood silent and resolute, like an ancient mountain, blocking the eighty thousand marquises. Without his leave, none dared cross the line.

Within the sect, Qin Feng withdrew his gaze and took a deep breath.

The human leadership had done their utmost; now, it was his turn.

He hesitated no longer, sitting cross-legged as his consciousness sank into his sea of spirit.

The Void Black Flame, temporarily suppressed by secret arts, hovered silently at the center of his mental world.

"Begin."

With a thought, his pure-black spiritual energy surged like a tide, cautiously enveloping the flame.

Simultaneously, he began to channel the Method of Refining the Black Flame, recorded on the first stone tablet left by King Guluo.

This technique was profound to the extreme; every rune seemed to contain the ultimate truths of the universe’s primordial fire. Had Qin Feng not possessed pure-black spiritual energy, he would not have understood even the first character.

Time lost all meaning in that moment.

Qin Feng became utterly immersed in the long process of refining the Void Black Flame.

His Primordial Furnace foundation manifested in his sea of spirit, a pitch-black kiln housing the flame.

His spiritual energy acted as a delicate chisel, carving his soul-mark into the flame, bit by bit, following the guidance of the secret art.

It was a task of patience; one could not rush, nor could one afford a single error.

The Void Black Flame was defined by its hunger, constantly radiating a terrifying will to devour his soul and foundation even as it was being refined.

Qin Feng had to maintain absolute focus, his will—forged by the Ultimate Body—resisting the temptation and erosion of this primordial force.

His Ultimate Body was also being tempered by the flame’s aura, becoming purer and more indestructible.

In the outside world, thirty thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.

The Eternal Mountain opened, the ancient peak radiating divine light as countless masterless laws and resonances swept through the war zone.

Once it was confirmed that all Emperors of the myriad races had entered, the five Human Emperors followed, seeking their own fortunes.

Outside the Artifact Sect, the eighty thousand marquises remained.

They waited for Qin Feng to emerge, waiting for the mission deadline.

Another ten thousand years drifted by.

Deep within the forbidden grounds of the Artifact Sect, in the chamber where Qin Feng meditated.

After forty thousand years of grueling cultivation, the unruly Void Black Flame was finally, completely refined.

The moment the final thread of his soul-mark was etched, an indescribable connection was forged between his spirit and this primordial fire.

Boom!

It was as if something had been ignited within him.

His Primordial Furnace foundation underwent a cataclysmic transformation upon absorbing the flame. Black fire roared within the kiln, radiating a terrifying aura that seemed to decompose all things in existence.

His Ultimate Body, propelled by this power, began to leap toward a brand-new level.

At that very instant, the laws of the universe across the entire Artifact Sect galaxy, and several neighboring sectors, began to boil!

Above the firmament, the winds and clouds shifted.

Endless energy converged from all directions, forming a massive vortex that engulfed the entire system.

At the center of the vortex lay Qin Feng’s chamber.

Crack—

A bolt of blood-colored lightning tore through the void, followed by orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple... nine colors of divine lightning intertwined, forming a sea of annihilation.

Nine-Colored Divine Lightning!

Legend held that this was the highest level of tribulation, descending only upon those who forged an supreme foundation and transcended the limits of life!

Outside the sect, the eighty thousand marquises looked up in horror, feeling a terror that could reduce them to ash, their faces etched with disbelief.

"Is this... the Nine-Colored Lightning Tribulation?!"

"He is breaking through! At such a time, he chooses to break through to the Marquis level?!"

"Madman! This fellow is a complete lunatic! What kind of terrifying foundation has he forged to invite such a legendary tribulation?"

The Weapon-Refining King appeared above the main hall, looking up at the sea of nine-colored lightning, his aged eyes filled with shock and relief.

"Well done, lad. You have truly reached this threshold. My junior brother, your eye for talent is far keener than mine."

Rumble!

Nine-colored divine lightning coalesced into a hideous dragon, roaring as it tore through the Weapon Sect’s protective barrier and struck down toward Qin Feng!

Within the secret chamber, Qin Feng snapped his eyes open.

Two dark flames burned within his pupils.

Facing the terrifying Dao Tribulation capable of annihilating ordinary Marquis-level beings, he felt no fear; instead, he rose to his full height and let out a long, heaven-piercing cry!

"Come then!"

Empty-handed and without invoking any secret treasures, he transformed into a streak of light, actively charging toward the nine-colored lightning dragon!

As he surged forward, his body began to radiate a dazzling, brilliant glow.

It was a silver-white hue beyond description—pure, immortal, and impervious to all laws!

The Limitless Body, bolstered by the Void Black Flame and tempered by the Dao Tribulation, had finally completed its ultimate metamorphosis from Domain Lord to Marquis level, achieving the perfect Silver-White Physique!

Boom!

Qin Feng’s fist collided violently with the head of the nine-colored lightning dragon.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only the annihilation of laws.

The moment the violent divine lightning touched his silver-white fist, it was as if ice had met a white-hot iron, rapidly decomposed, devoured, and dissolved by an invisible force.

Qin Feng’s body acted like a true bottomless furnace, converting the world-destroying power of the Dao Tribulation into nourishment for his own growth!

His aura climbed steadily, unstoppable!

The Marquis Realm, achieved!

Deep within his consciousness, a brand-new Dao Seal slowly took shape.

It was a pitch-black furnace, its surface wreathed in roaring Void Black Flames.

The furnace seemed alive; with every "breath," it swallowed vast amounts of cosmic energy, exuding a terrifying intent to refine the heavens and myriad worlds into one.

Qin Feng’s cultivation did not stop at the initial Marquis level.

Relying on the supreme foundation of the Primordial Singularity, the profound depth of three hundred billion auxiliary secret arts, the reinforcement of King Guluo’s three hundred million weapon-refining techniques, and the qualitative change brought by the Void Black Flame, his strength vaulted past the primary, intermediate, and advanced thresholds in a single instant, surging forward until it settled firmly at the Peak Marquis Realm!

A single breakthrough, reaching the pinnacle!

The Dao Tribulation dissipated, and the visions vanished.

Qin Feng hovered quietly in mid-air.

Clad in his Limitless Power Armor and wielding the Star-Swallowing Spear, he was wreathed in a faint silver-white radiance, inviolable and imposing as a prison.

A projection of the Weapon-Refining King appeared silently before him, a faint smile on his aged face: "How do you feel? Are you confident against those eighty thousand Marquises outside?"

Qin Feng turned his gaze toward the dense swarm of stars beyond the sect, his fighting spirit surging like a tide.

"I shall try."

Four simple words, yet they contained unparalleled confidence.

The Weapon-Refining King understood. He laughed heartily and said, "Good! In that case, I shall not waste effort giving you any protective treasures. With your God-Forbidden stature and such a profound foundation, they cannot stop you."

"Go forth and do as you will."

The Weapon-Refining King offered a final word of caution, "The Golden Emperor has entered the Eternal Mountain and will not emerge for at least ninety thousand years. Plan accordingly."

"Understood."

Qin Feng nodded slightly and bowed deeply to the projection.

"Thank you, Senior, for guarding my path for forty thousand years."

With that, he lingered no longer. His figure moved, transforming into a silver streak of light that tore through the cosmos, vanishing instantly from the Weapon Sect’s territory to charge headlong toward the battlefield where the eighty thousand Marquis-level experts awaited!

...

Outside the Weapon Sect, the star field named "Weapon-Refining" had become an invisible cage, a death trap gathering eighty thousand greedy gazes from across the universe.

Forty thousand years is but a fleeting blink for a Marquis-level expert.

Yet, those forty thousand years were enough for the sixty-four thousand experts who initially gathered for the cosmic will’s mission to ferment and multiply, eventually reaching a total of eighty thousand.

Like sharks scenting blood, they surrounded the Weapon Sect’s mountain array, patiently waiting for the prey to emerge. When the barrier that had protected the sect for endless ages rippled like water, all the noise, discussion, and telepathic exchanges ceased in an instant.

Dead silence.

Absolute, dead silence.

Eighty thousand pairs of eyes and eighty thousand formidable wills, like eighty thousand arrows notched and ready, locked onto the figure stepping slowly from the light of the array.

Qin Feng had arrived.

There was no earth-shaking momentum, no manifestation of laws. He walked out calmly, as if he were not heading toward a life-or-death struggle, but merely attending an ordinary appointment.

A simple black martial robe, a long black spear of archaic design—nothing more.

Yet, the pupils of every Marquis-level expert contracted the moment he appeared.

His body was no longer the color of flesh and blood, but a pure, noble silver-white, as if cast from the sturdiest divine metal in the universe.

Light falling upon him did not reflect in the usual way; instead, it was twisted and assimilated by a strange law, turning into soft silver halos that flowed endlessly around him.

The halos looked harmless, yet they radiated an eternal quality of being "impervious to all laws and indestructible by all paths."

The Limitless Body, having refined the Void Black Flame and successfully ascended to the Marquis level, had finally completed its first qualitative metamorphosis, achieving the silver-white hue!

"He’s out!"

"That’s him! The top of the Heaven’s Pride List, the fiend Qin Feng!"

"His aura... so strong! This is no ordinary Marquis; it’s a peak! Definitely a Peak Marquis!"

The silence was broken, replaced by a restlessness pushed to the extreme.

Eighty thousand Marquis-level experts from over a thousand different races stood with their Dao Seals floating behind them—some like peerless sharp swords, others like towers suppressing the void, or shifting clouds... Eighty thousand different law auras intertwined, throwing the star field into chaos. Law storms raged, and the spatial barriers groaned under the strain.

Yet, at the center of this storm capable of shattering ordinary stars, Qin Feng stood like a needle in the sea, immovable.

His deep eyes swept calmly across the dense "army" before him. There was no fear, no killing intent, only the indifference of an ancient, still well.

He had waited forty thousand years for this moment.

These forty thousand years were not just for refining the Void Black Flame, but for him to master all he had learned and push the Limitless Body to a new peak.

"Kill!"

Someone in the crowd let out a hysterical roar.

The cry was a spark thrown into a powder keg, instantly igniting the entire field!

"Kill him! The Primordial Fire on him belongs to us! The mission of the cosmic will must be completed!"

"Yes! The Golden Emperor and other Marquis-level powerhouses are all tied up in the Eternal Mountain; this is our only chance! If he escapes, our mission fails completely!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill! The bounty on his head is enough to buy a high-level cosmic nation! And that legendary 'Heavenly Evolution Weapon,' the complete inheritance of King Guluo! Kill him, and we shall ascend to the heavens in a single step!"

Greed is the most primitive and powerful driving force in the universe.

Before the "Primordial Fire," a treasure capable of altering the destiny of any Marquis, and faced with astronomical bounties and legacies, all reason and fear were instantly ignited and burned to ash.

Kill Qin Feng!

This thought, like a virus, spread wildly through the minds of the eighty thousand Marquis-level powerhouses, becoming their sole will in that moment.

Boom—!

In an instant, eighty thousand attacks, eighty thousand types of laws, coalesced into an unprecedented torrent of destruction, surging from all directions, covering three hundred and sixty degrees without a single blind spot, toward the point where Qin Feng stood.

Light, endless and infinite light, completely submerged that patch of the starry sky.

The collision of laws birthed the most primitive chaos; the flow of time became meaningless, and space was torn, annihilated, reborn, and shattered again like fragile parchment under the weight of even more violent forces.

Any matter, any life, appeared so minuscule and insignificant before this torrent, the combined might of eighty thousand Marquis-level warriors.

Yet, at the very center of this sea of destructive light, that silver speck did not evaporate as expected.

It remained.

"Hum—"

A soft chime echoed, as if emanating from the dawn of the Great Dao.

Qin Feng’s silver halo suddenly expanded, forming an absolute domain no more than three meters in diameter.

The torrent of laws, capable of annihilating entire galaxies, vanished into nothingness the moment it touched that thin veil, like a clay ox entering the sea.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no deafening roar of clashing laws; all attacks, all energy, all laws were silently "erased" by that silver radiance.

Immune to all laws!

This was no hyperbolic description, but a terrifying, rule-like characteristic brought forth by the "Limitless Body" once it achieved its silver-white state.

This sight caused the hearts of all the Marquis-level warriors to sink into the abyss.

"How is this possible!"

"Our attacks... are ineffective?"

"What kind of physique is this? What secret art is this!"

Before their shock could ferment, Qin Feng moved.

He employed no movement techniques, merely taking a single step forward.

Yet this step seemed to transcend the shackles of space, instantly placing him at the very forefront of the enemy ranks.

"Roar!"

A peak Marquis from the Bull-Demon race, whose Dao Seal was a towering, blood-colored mountain, reacted fastest, bellowing as he smashed his seal toward Qin Feng’s skull.

This strike, containing his life’s cultivation, was enough to crush a white dwarf star into powder.

Qin Feng did not even glance at it; he raised his left hand, fingers splayed, and pressed gently against the blood-red mountain.

"Crack!"

With a crisp sound, the indestructible Dao Seal, condensed from the life’s work of a peak Marquis, shattered into pieces under Qin Feng’s palm like fragile ceramic, then exploded into dust!

"Pfft!"

The Bull-Demon Marquis was struck as if by lightning; his eyes instantly lost their luster, and his massive body dissolved into cosmic dust the moment his seal shattered.

One strike, a peak Marquis slain in an instant!

No, it could not even be called a "strike"—it was merely... a casual parry.

This terrifying scene plunged the once-boisterous battlefield into a momentary, deathly silence.

But Qin Feng’s movements did not cease.

"Hum—"

Behind him, a pitch-black Dao Seal slowly emerged.

It was a furnace.

A furnace whose form defied description.

It seemed composed of the purest "void"; any light or divine sense approaching it was instantly devoured, leaving no trace behind.

Within the furnace, there were no raging flames, only a darkness so profound it made the soul tremble, as if connected to the ultimate abyss of the universe.

Dao Seal—[Primordial Furnace]!

The final form, condensed from the [Undying Tower], the [Primordial Singularity], and countless insights, achieved after Qin Feng ascended to the rank of Marquis and fully mastered his own Dao!

"Consume!"

Qin Feng uttered the word softly.

In an instant, the black furnace Dao Seal expanded, transforming into a colossal black hole that blotted out the sky.

An irresistible, terrifying suction erupted, enveloping thousands of Marquis-level warriors ahead.

"No! My Dao Seal! My body! Ah—!"

Piercing screams echoed through the stars.

The bodies, Dao Seals, and even the souls of those thousands of Marquises—whether primary, intermediate, or advanced—were pulled and deformed by that horrific suction, eventually turning into streams of light and being swallowed whole into the black furnace.

The furnace shuddered slightly, as if satisfied, and the darkness on its walls seemed to deepen.

In a mere heartbeat, thousands of Marquises were annihilated, body and soul!

Devouring heaven and earth!

This furnace Dao Seal possessed such an overbearing, unreasonable, and terrifying power!

"Run!"

"He is a devil! He is a devil!"

"How can we fight this! Our attacks are useless, yet he slaughters us like pigs and dogs!"

The front lines collapsed completely.

The surviving Marquis-level warriors felt their greed replaced by boundless terror; they turned frantically, fleeing toward the rear without regard for anything else.

However, Qin Feng’s slaughter had only just begun.

Holding his spear, his figure moving like lightning, he unleashed a one-sided massacre amidst the army of eighty thousand.

His fighting style was simple to the extreme.

Facing any attack, he remained indifferent, allowing it to strike his silver-white body, which the [Limitless Body] would effortlessly neutralize—immune to all laws.

His furnace Dao Seal served as the most terrifying area-of-effect weapon. Each time it was invoked, hundreds or thousands of Marquises were forcibly consumed, becoming fuel for the furnace without a chance to struggle.

And the spear in his hand was the most precise tool for targeted killing. Every thrust inevitably pierced a peak Marquis attempting to organize a resistance, pinning them through their body and Dao Seal alike, nailing them to the void.

This was a war, yet it felt more like a bloody art.

Qin Feng’s figure shuttled across the battlefield, silver light flickering, his spear striking like a dragon. Where he passed, he left behind only stardust from shattered Dao Seals and the desperate wails of countless Marquis-level warriors facing their end.

No peak Marquis could withstand a single blow from him.

Their Dao Seals were as fragile as paper before the [Primordial Furnace], and their law-based attacks were as laughable as a gentle breeze before the [Limitless Body].

Even those who reigned as patriarchs and ancestors in their respective cosmic nations, the peak marquises renowned across vast territories, were but slightly more resilient ants before Qin Feng.

A peak marquis from the Crystal Clan, whose Dao Seal was a Thousand-Prism Treasure Mirror imbued with the Great Deduction Technique, capable of refracting all laws and piercing through illusions, joined forces with a dozen companions to set a grand array, attempting to trap Qin Feng.

Qin Feng merely cast a glance at him, his long spear thrusting forward with deceptive simplicity.

There was no flash of spear light, no ripple of law.

Yet, the Crystal Clan marquis’s Thousand-Prism Treasure Mirror Dao Seal shattered into a web of cracks in an instant. He realized with horror that Qin Feng’s strike had not targeted the seal itself, but had struck directly at the very origin of his Dao.

"Puff!"

As the mirror shattered, the Crystal Clan marquis and his dozen companions were instantly annihilated, their souls extinguished by the backlash.

Another peak marquis from the Mech-Demon Clan, whose flesh and Dao Seal had long since merged into a ten-thousand-foot-tall war fortress, unleashed his full firepower; billions of annihilation beams converged, a display of terrifying momentum.

Qin Feng did not dodge or evade, allowing the beams to wash over him.

Not a single ripple stirred on his silver-white body. Then, his Primordial Furnace Dao Seal roared forth, slamming directly into the war fortress.

Amidst the teeth-gritting screech of twisting metal, the war fortress, capable of withstanding a strike from a king-level powerhouse, was forcibly "gnawed" into by the furnace, leaving a gaping hole before being swallowed whole.

Kill! Kill! Kill!

Qin Feng’s slaughter was efficient, cold, and relentless.

His stamina and mental energy seemed inexhaustible. With every enemy consumed, the Primordial Furnace fed him a stream of pure energy, keeping him in a state of perpetual peak performance.

This war, once deemed a "hunt" by eighty thousand marquises, had devolved into a one-sided harvest.

Qin Feng’s silhouette became the ultimate nightmare in the hearts of all who traversed this star field.

...

Time slipped away, woven into blood and fire.

One year, ten years, fifty years...

This war, which engulfed the entire star sector, raged for a full century!

A hundred years is the span of several generations for a mortal.

But for the marquis-level powerhouses on this battlefield, it was an endless torment, living every second under the shadow of death.

Qin Feng, this tireless god of slaughter, never once halted his advance over the course of the century.

At first, many marquises held onto a glimmer of hope, attempting to exhaust Qin Feng’s strength through sheer numbers.

They formed various battle formations, deployed their hidden trump cards, and even burned their own origins to launch suicidal attacks.

But before Qin Feng’s "invulnerable" Extreme Body and "all-consuming" Primordial Furnace, every struggle appeared pale and futile.

Their numbers dwindled at a rate that induced despair in the face of Qin Feng’s efficient massacre.

Eighty thousand, seventy thousand, sixty thousand, fifty thousand...

When the number of fallen marquises crossed the thirty-thousand mark, the will of the survivors finally crumbled completely.

"Flee!"

"He cannot be killed! He is a monster that simply cannot be killed!"

"The mission of the cosmic will... we give up! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"

Finally, the first deserter appeared.

Then the second, the third...

When fear overcame greed and the instinct for survival eclipsed all else, a rout occurred, unstoppable as an avalanche.

The nearly fifty thousand surviving marquises could no longer organize any effective resistance; like a disturbed swarm of bees, they fled in frantic panic in every direction.

The entire battlefield turned into a farce of pursuit and flight.

Qin Feng stood in the void, silently watching the figures scurrying like stray dogs.

He did not pursue them further.

Because his goal had been achieved.

In a century of slaughter, he had executed over thirty thousand marquis-level powerhouses.

This once-prosperous "weapon-refining" star field had now been thoroughly transformed into a dead zone.

Floating in the void were countless fragments of laws left behind by shattered Dao Seals; they shimmered like brilliant glass, reflecting the light of distant stars while telling the sorrow of their former masters.

The thick, inseparable scent of blood and resentment caused the laws of this space to warp, forming a natural "blood-colored forbidden zone."

Rivers of blood, mountains of bones.

These eight words were no longer enough to describe the tragedy of this place.

Qin Feng hovered quietly in the star-filled graveyard he had created with his own hands, his heart devoid of any great turbulence.

He raised his hand, looking at his silver-white fist, feeling the surging power within him—a strength more than ten thousand times greater than it had been forty thousand years ago—and murmured to himself.

"Is this the limit of a peak marquis..."

"So strong, ridiculously strong. Ordinary peak marquises cannot last three moves before me. Even those with hidden cards are merely a bit more trouble. It is fair to say that as long as no king-level powerhouse emerges, I am invincible at this realm."

A hint of contemplation flickered in Qin Feng’s eyes.

"However... I have yet to step into the realm of the 'Divine Prohibition'."

Divine Prohibition, a legendary domain.

It represents reaching the theoretical limit within a major realm, possessing the terrifying potential to defy and slay those in the realm above.

Qin Feng knew well that the gap between a marquis and a king was unimaginably vast—a true chasm.

His current strength, while invincible beneath the king level, would likely not last long if he truly faced a king-level powerhouse, even the weakest among them.

But a true "Divine Prohibition Marquis" possessed the qualifications to survive under a king, and even threaten one under specific conditions.

"Where exactly does the gap lie?"

Countless pieces of information swirled rapidly through Qin Feng’s mind.

The three hundred billion auxiliary secret techniques he had copied at the Holy Academy, the three hundred million weapon-refining techniques from the Guluo King’s inheritance, and the massive amount of information parsed from consuming thirty thousand marquises over the last century... this knowledge, vast enough to overwhelm any supercomputer, was pointing him toward the path ahead.

"I understand now."

"My Extreme Body, though silver-white and invulnerable, is far from perfect in its internal 'construction'. I must thoroughly digest those three hundred billion techniques and integrate their essence into every particle of the Extreme Body to truly reach the 'limit' of this realm."

"My offensive methods are also insufficient. Currently, I rely mainly on the consumption of the Dao Seal and the strength of my flesh; while simple and efficient, I lack a supreme killing technique that can truly 'seal the deal'."

Qin Feng’s gaze fell into the depths of his soul.

There, a divine secret technique shimmering with nine-colored light and exuding endless battle intent—the "Nine Calamity War Canon"—floated silently.

This was a "gift" from the Blood God Khorne, and a supreme battle technique that could truly lead to the realm of gods.

"Once I consolidate the foundation of my Extreme Body and master the first layer of the Nine Calamity War Canon—the 'One Calamity Realm', which is the limit a marquis can cultivate—I will be able to truly step into the domain of 'Divine Prohibition'!"

Qin Feng’s heart was clear.

He knew that across the entire universe, those who could step into the Divine Prohibition at the marquis level were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns; every one of them was a monster in the top twenty, or even top ten, of the Heaven’s Pride Ranking.

It was an incredibly arduous path.

Yet Qin Feng was destined to tread a path of ultimate extremity, one that no predecessor had dared to walk and no successor would ever follow.

This battle served as both a demonstration of his might and a trial of his strength.

The outcome left him deeply satisfied.

He raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the boundless void to fix upon the distant, storm-tossed nexus of the cosmos—the Eternal Mountain, and the Seven Heavenly Abysses.

(End of this chapter)